


Flower Crowns

by TheAsexualofSpades



Series: Quarantine Drabbles [6]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flowerfell (Undertale), Gen, Protective Sans (Undertale)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:33:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23394829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAsexualofSpades/pseuds/TheAsexualofSpades
Summary: Keeping a human safe in Underfell isn't easy, especially when they can't see. Having their hair constantly get in the way isn't helping matters.
Series: Quarantine Drabbles [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1677655
Comments: 3
Kudos: 72





	Flower Crowns

**Author's Note:**

> I really like this AU. It's not mine, I take no credit for it. We love our grumpy skel with some softness, don't we?

Fandom: Undertale

Prompt: “I’ll always be here for you.”

* * *

There aren’t many monsters that wouldn’t kill a human on sight. There definitely aren’t many monsters that wouldn’t kill a human. Almost no monsters go out of their way to protect a human.

Sans never was most monsters.

“come on sweetheart,” he grunted, heaving the small body onto his back, “we gotta get you somewhere safer.”

They didn’t reply but their little fingers tightened around his phalanges and hung on tight.

“heh. you holdin’ on tight?” He gave their hand a squeeze. “good. hang on.”

A quick shortcut to the sentry station by the RUINS later, he shuffled around to pull the blankets out from under the bench and gingerly eased the human down on top. Golden petals fell in a neat halo around their brown hair, barely discernible from the thick wreath covering their face. He brushed away the ones he could, careful to avoid the larger blossoms.

“shit, sorry, kid,” he mumbled when his finger snagged in a tendril, causing them to wince, “you okay?”

They nodded, reaching up to help guide him towards less sensitive petals. Their fingers worked gingerly through the tangled tresses, shaking loose the stubborn ones.

“you should really tie this stuff back,” Sans muttered, “keep it from gettin’ everywhere.”

The child shook their head.

“why not? ’s long enough.” He frowned when they shrugged their shoulders helplessly. “you don’t know how?”

Running a hand over his skull, he glanced around. He’d brought them here because no monsters made a habit of coming near the RUINS, except for him and Papyrus. Fear of whatever the King locked away in there, plus the lack of easy targets, kept them away. Made it ideal for hiding a human, though. Sure enough, the forest’s trees frowned over an empty path, wind stripping away their bark the only sound for ages.

“alright,” he sighed, “come up here, kiddo.”

The child reached out blindly for Sans’ arms, clutching tightly as the petals fell from their face, clambering upwards into his lap. He turned them around, careful to avoid the copious amounts of flowers growing from their skull.

“shit,” he muttered, starting to separate the pieces of hair from the blossoms, “this looks like more than last time.”

The wreath bobbed.

“how many, sweetheart?”

A moment passed before a shivering hand held up four fingers.

“four? stars, sweetheart, ‘m sorry. shoulda been there for ya.”

The child reached back and gave his hoodie a squeeze.

“i know, i know. still. this—“ he tugged gently on a strand of their hair—“’s the least i can do right now. now shit, grab some of that blanket, you’re gonna freeze if ya don’t.”

Once the child held the blanket secure in their own lap, he turned his attention back to their hair. He’d seen other monsters with fur twisting the strands together from his hidden scouting routes, using his eye glow to peer from a safe distance. Sweat beaded on his skull as he tried to mimic the patterns.

He selected a thick chunk from the top of their head. Split it into three. Crossed one over, then another, then another. Don’t pull too hard. Avoid the flowers. Brush the petals out of the way. Tie off the end.

The end result was certainly sloppier than those he’d seen on other monsters, but it wasn’t bad. And it wasn’t like the kid was gonna see it, heh heh.

Heh…

May as well do the rest of their head.

The sides of the sentry station did little to stop the frigid winds howling about the forest but at least the roof kept the snow off their heads. The child toyed absentmindedly with the blanket as Sans worked. He tried to keep the twists away from their face, pulling the strands closest to their cheeks back, weaving them together and tucking them gently into the flower stems as an anchor point before including them in the larger twists. He tried to be gentle. Every so often, he pulled a little too hard and froze, waiting for them to resettle.

“sorry, sweetheart. ‘m almost done.”

The child simply reached around to give his hand a pat. They never held a grudge. Part of it, Sans knew, was probably because he’s the only thing that tried to help them.

Most of it was they didn’t have a single mean bone in their body.

He didn’t know how to deal with that.

When he finished, he sat back, rubbing their arms to try and supplement the heat they’d gotten from leaning against his considerable bulk. It looked…well, it kinda looked good. Their hair twisted up and around the crown of flowers, looping with a bedraggled elegance. It certainly wasn’t going to win any awards, but it would do the trick. And hey, from the back, it almost looked like the flowers were intentional.

Well, they _were._

Just not in that way.

“alright, that should work. you wanna give it a test and see?”

Reaching careful hands back, the child felt around their head, fingers running over the strands. They gave their head a little shake. Sans’ SOUL leapt in his chest. But nothing gave way.

“heh. looks like that’ll work for— _oof._ ” The child whipped around and threw themselves at Sans in an exuberant hug. “heh. glad you like it, sweetheart.”

His only regret was now he couldn’t run his fingers through their hair like before. Eh, he’d live.

“you’re still freezin’, sweetheart.” He tugged the blanket free and draped it over them, wrapping his arms tightly around the bundle to try and lend some warmth back into their body. ‘you just stay right here.”

Sans frowned when they started butting their head lightly against his collar. “what, somethin’ wrong?”

He jumped when their icicles of fingers started unzipping his hoodie. “wha—kid!”

They paused, looking up at him. They pressed themselves against his hoodie, clutching the black fabric tightly. Oh. Well, they had a point.

“alright, alright, hang on.”

Unzipping the rest of his hoodie, he made enough room to tuck them inside against his chest, closing the hoodie enough to make it look like he stuffed a blanket inside. Discreetly flicking away any petals, he rested his chin on top of their head.

“i’ll always be here for you, sweetheart,” he mumbled, “’n i don’t make a habit of doin’ that for most people.”

But somehow this little human had waltzed right in, past layers and layers of LOVE and EXP and scars and nestled right into his SOUL, flowers and all.

Eh. He’d live.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Come yell at me on tumblr while we're all in quarantine. 
> 
> https://a-small-batch-of-dragons.tumblr.com/


End file.
